On January 6, the first plasma biological product factory in Vietnam located in the Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Park officially started construction. This is an important turning point for our country's pharmaceutical industry.
Imported globulin preparations for the treatment of hand, foot and mouth disease are often interrupted due to uncertain supply - Photo: DUYEN PHAN
In the past, to treat diseases such as hand, foot and mouth disease, measles... we had to import biological products from plasma to treat patients, and drug shortages continuously occurred.
When there is a domestic factory directly producing, patients will have access to cheap medicine, increase treatment effectiveness, and aim to export to other countries.
Surplus of raw materials but still lack of medicine?
From the plasma source, after going through the production process, essential biological products such as Albumin, Globulin, factor VII, IX... will be produced. These are the necessary biological products to treat diseases that occur every year in our country such as hand, foot and mouth disease, measles, blood clotting disorders, immune deficiencies...
According to the Ministry of Health, the demand for plasma and plasma fractionation products for treatment in Vietnam is quite large, but because it cannot be produced yet, every year our country still has to spend a large amount of foreign currency to import plasma fractionation products for treatment of patients.
However, drug supply disruptions still occur frequently, affecting patient treatment.
In 2023, many localities will experience a shortage of Globulin (immunomodulator) infusion to treat hand, foot and mouth disease in the context of a rapid increase in the disease, especially in the southern provinces.
To solve this problem, the Drug Administration of Vietnam (Ministry of Health) must urgently import thousands of additional Globulin infusions to distribute to the provinces.
The demand for plasma biological products in Vietnam is quite large. It is worth mentioning that every year, nearly 2 million units of blood collected from voluntary blood donors are still not utilized.
The reason is that there is no plasma fractionation plant and related technologies have not been mastered, so the plasma source after being separated from whole blood is mainly used in raw form as frozen plasma or fresh frozen plasma to be transfused to patients in the treatment of some diseases.
Mr. Ngo Duc Binh, General Director of Binh Viet Duc Company Limited, shared that currently Vietnam only collects plasma, sends it abroad for processing, and then imports it back to treat people.
Importing foreign products is also very difficult because the supply is very limited, while we still have a surplus of plasma.
In addition, biological products from other countries still have to be imported for treatment, leading to high costs for patients, dependence on foreign countries, and drug shortages still occurring.
Once the factory in Vietnam is put into operation, the price of medicine to the people can be reduced by 50 - 60%. Moreover, biological products are not only supplied to domestic hospitals but also exported abroad, reducing dependence on imported pharmaceuticals.
Plasma makes up about 55% of blood and contains many different components, including antibodies (immunoglobulins) that help fight infections. These antibodies are made into drugs to support the treatment of people with rare diseases - Photo: TTO
Priority for pharmaceutical manufacturing units
Speaking with Tuoi Tre, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen affirmed that Vietnam is focusing on prioritizing development in areas such as technology transfer for vaccine production, anti-cancer drugs, new technology drugs, plasma biological products, etc.
These fields require very high technology, which is very difficult to produce even though the annual demand for patient treatment is very large.
The Vietnamese pharmaceutical market has an annual growth rate of over 10%. However, the domestic pharmaceutical industry mainly produces generic drugs (copies of branded drugs with similar active ingredients) and depends on raw materials. The quantity of high-tech drugs, specialized drugs for treating emerging diseases, serious diseases, especially biological products and biological drugs for medical examination and treatment is still limited.
When mastering new drug production technology, the price of drugs that patients access will be more reasonable. Currently, drug production in our country is still limited due to insufficient technology while the demand is very large but drugs and biological products must be imported from abroad.
"Currently, the Ministry of Health always prioritizes and encourages companies to invest and produce in the field of medicine and pharmaceutical production to enjoy preferential treatment as prescribed by the Law on Pharmacy. Not only plasma biological products, but also other biological products such as new technology drugs, anti-cancer drugs, vaccines... These are the types that are prioritized when investing," said Deputy Minister Tuyen.
Associate Professor Nguyen Huu Duc, a pharmaceutical expert in Ho Chi Minh City, said that countries around the world are very interested in and proactively building domestic pharmaceutical industries. This is to avoid being passive in supplying drugs to serve patients.
When we take the initiative in domestic drug supply, we will reduce the cost of accessing to patients, and proactively control the quality of drugs because currently imported drugs must go through the testing process. At the same time, when imports are dependent, drug shortages will occur.
According to Associate Professor Huu Duc, there should be a preferential policy mechanism for domestic pharmaceutical companies to quickly raise the level of the Vietnamese pharmaceutical industry.
Ho Chi Minh City forms the country's first pharmaceutical industrial park
In 2024, Ho Chi Minh City issued the project "Developing the city's pharmaceutical industry to 2030, with a vision to 2045". This is an important starting step for the city to soon become the first concentrated medical and pharmaceutical industrial park in the country.
The project was issued in the context that Vietnam is facing a shortage of drugs due to disruptions in the supply of finished drugs and raw materials for drug production as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and political instability due to conflicts between several countries in the world.
Ensuring pharmaceutical security has become a top priority in the healthcare sector, with increased focus on supply chain management and improving domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity.
The city's pharmaceutical industry development project has planned a specialized medical-pharmaceutical industrial park in Le Minh Xuan 2 Industrial Park with an area of 338 hectares (Binh Chanh district). This place has a research and development center and innovation in the field of medicine and pharmacy, production and trading facilities for medical and pharmaceutical products and auxiliary products in the high-tech segment, and a product transaction center.
The industrial park is expected to complete its infrastructure and be put into operation by 2030. Special support policies are expected to promote and facilitate businesses to bring their products to market as soon as possible.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/san-xuat-huyet-tuong-trong-nuoc-la-buoc-ngoat-de-tranh-thieu-thuoc-chua-benh-2025010711012536.htm
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